Quality preservation and safety ensurement of a vegetable smoothie by high pressure processing

FERNÁNDEZ, M. V.; DENOYA, G. I.; AGÜERO, M. V.; VAUDAGNA, S. R.; JAGUS, R. J.

JOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2019

0145-8892

This research aims to evaluate the effect of a previously optimized high-pressure processing (HPP) treatment on the vegetable smoothie stability during 28 days at 5 °C and on the inactivation of a contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7 surrogates during 12 days at 15 °C. HPP (630 MPa/6 min) reduced native microbiota to values below detection limit (DL = 1 log CFU/g) and significantly reduced polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase, and pectin methylesterase initial activities (16.7%, 29.6%, and 70.7%, respectively), maintaining significant lower values than control during storage. In addition, smoothie´s soluble solids and pH were neither modified with treatment nor storage time, while greater retention of color and nutritional indicators was noted on treated samples during storage. Moreover,HPP allowed controlling 6 log CFU/g surrogate counts, maintaining them below DL during storage. Hence, optimized HPP treatment is effective to improve the qualitystability of the product besides ensuring their safety when contamination occurs